Hi to all the DIY and home improvement gurus. I am hoping to find some animal lovers who can help me out. I live in Southern California by the coast where there is decent humidity, and am looking for a floor that is suitable for my pet sanctuary which is also my home.

The floor I need is:
1) Cat and dog urine proof (even if urine sits on it overnight)
2) Not slippery when wet (dogs drool and we don't want anyone slipping especially older pets/people)
3) Affordable install, material and maintenance (prefer no maintenance)
4) Dog claw proof (would resist scratches from medium dogs running on it)
5) Has some "give" or squishiness so when pets slam each other onto the floor, it isn't going to hurt too much.
6) looks like wood even if it looks/feels fake
7) (not a deal breaker) compatible with latex-backed rugs

I have 15-month-old Konecto Prestige in our rental condo (wood subfloor) and it looks great. To me it looks very real which is a plus. It's working out nicely, but I wouldn't use it in the house on the slab because of the reported issues. My Konecto was installed over plastic padding and has the perfect feel/look for pets/people to walk on. It has as slight texture to be non-slip and is soft enough that if a small dog gets slammed into it during a wrestling match, there probably won't be any bruises or broken bones. I would want a product like Konecto OR sheet vinyl, I think. It has to be sealed at the edges to be completely urine proof as cats who are stressed like to "territory tinkle" along a room's perimeter and it may even get under baseboards that have silicon/latex as there can be bubbles/gaps or areas where the sealant isn't adhering well.

I do not know if Konecto or similar products are compatible with latex backed rugs and am hoping someone can clue me in on this. I think the only issue with latex and vinyl is that the chemicals in latex will yellow vinyl from long-term contact. With a light-brown, wood-look floor would it matter? I've been studying floor options for years and even though sheet vinyl seems the best option, the latex incompatiblity is a problem. Finding machine washable area rugs which are not latex-backed is near impossible. I suppose a non-latex, no-slip pad could be placed under a latex-backed rug, but I haven't yet found this product. Anyone here ever seen a non-latex carpet pad?

All that being said, can any of the flooring products you are now thinking of be installed over my saltillo to avoid the mess of tearing it out? The saltillo floor has quite the uneven surface, so it would probably be necessary to float it. When we installed the saltillo, we lost 2" of ceiling height. I'm not looking forward to losing another 2". I'm not sure what prep work would need to be done to ensure adhesion, and don't know how much concrete/mortar/? would need to be applied. I'm concerned it would crack, if it wasn't thick enough, but maybe with good adhesion, it would be safe to do a very thin coating. If the float would have to be more than 1" thick, I'd opt for the tear out.

Is it absolutely insane to try to level the floor by putting a thin layer of sand between the saltillo and a (padded) floating vinyl floor? I think where the really heavy furniture is, the vinyl might tear, but outside of that, it almost seems like a good idea for leveling the floor at minimal cost.

I am hoping I have your interest and your willingness to help us out. I have fostered over 110 pets out of my home, and look forward to helping hundreds more. I need the simplest, safest flooring that will meet our needs and keep us humans from wanting to move out.

By the way, if you have special-needs or young pets who have accidents, I would not suggest saltillo, wood, or wood laminate floors. Mine were ruined by urine despite being sealed, and re-sealed. My most recent saltillo floor cost me $4,000 and was ruined to an unlivable condition by special-needs pets who had occasional accidents. It was a costly mistake but a valuable lesson.